Stef - C&C please.

jwbryson1 · Aug 10, 2011

I read something the other day about shallow DOF shots and in the case when eyes are part of the shallow DOF, they are supposed to be in the same focal plane so both are in focus. Not sure if that matters here where the far one is not in focus, but I thought I'd offer that up anyway to see if it sticks.

e.rose · Aug 10, 2011

jwbryson1 said:
I read something the other day about shallow DOF shots and in the case when eyes are part of the shallow DOF, they are supposed to be in the same focal plane so both are in focus. Not sure if that matters here where the far one is not in focus, but I thought I'd offer that up anyway to see if it sticks.

Thanks for your feedback :sillysmi:

That's an interesting thought, but I sort of think that's debatable. Just like "everything *should* follow the rule of thirds". They are very good guidelines, but I think there are cases where they can be broken.

Is this *one* of them? I dunno... you tell me... :lol:

But I can tell you where I would normally strive for both eyes to be in focus, my goal here was *not* to have that happen.

Again? Wise choice? I dunno... like I said, I think it's sort of subjective.

mrstravis · Aug 10, 2011

I absolutely love it, it looks like a photo for a cosmetic ad! But like someone mentioned, it does look like she has tiny bumps. sooo, I was wondering, can I be your tpf stalker and then follow you to other social networks? Lol, jk

e.rose · Aug 10, 2011

jgooz said:
i love the shot, the skin looks like it has a grainy look (not photo grainy but makeup kind ), otherwise no gripes, i would like to know how you set this up i.e. where your lights were set, what lighting you used and lens. as i would love to take shots like this.

I had my LumoPro on a stand, gelled with a... 1/2 CTO I think it was?... fired through a shoot-through umbrella. The sunlight coming through the trees was acting as a rim light for me.

For the shots in this series I had the stand camera right, but for this particular shot I had her turn towards the light so the left side of her face wasn't in as much shadow as it had been before. Er... Right side of her face... sorry. :lol:

I honestly don't remember what power I fired the flash at, and it wasn't TTL or anything so the camera EXIF data wouldn't have even recorded that a flash fired, so I can't look it up... but during this part of the shoot I had already metered what I wanted the "background" to look like and then just adjusted my flash until Stef was exposed properly. I don't think I changed my settings much when I went to this shot because I liked the way it looked.

Shutter speed was 1/125, aperture was f/2.8 and my ISO was 100.

I shot it using my Canon 50mm f/1.4

e.rose · Aug 10, 2011

mrstravis said:
sooo, I was wondering, can I be your tpf stalker and then follow you to other social networks? Lol, jk

Please do! I LOVE stalkers! :biglaugh:

bigtwinky · Aug 10, 2011

Read through some thoughts posted, not all, sorry if I'm being repetitive.

Overall, I think this is an excellent image. The use of bokeh, the focus, the off camera gaze, the green background, catch lights... very nice.

To nitpick...

Might just be me, but the lashes on the outter part of her in focus eye seem blurry. Could be they are just clumped. But my first impression was that the top left of the eye wasn't in focus.

Not a fan of the finger nail near her nose. It feels heavy and draws my eye to it. Not sure what I would do with that hand/finger to keep the same look.

I'd like to see more of her hair in the blurried background. I find the few strands that are there seem haphazard and in the way, so semi distracting. Not sure that makes sense.

Seems that under the eye in focus is a bit too softened and slightly too white for the rest of her face. Did you process this area?

Really though, I havent seen any of your images in months, and I'm psyched at the way this looks. Not that your old stuff was crap, it's awesome to see people progressing so well with their photography. I'm envious.

e.rose · Aug 10, 2011

bigtwinky said:
Seems that under the eye in focus is a bit too softened and slightly too white for the rest of her face. Did you process this area?

Thanks for your feedback! :sillysmi:

Yes... she has slight dark circles going on, so I lightened that area a bit. I used the cloning tool on a lowered opacity on the "lighten" setting... I may have clicked one too many times, if you find that it looks soft. :lol:

And it's okay... *I* think my old stuff was crap. :lol:

Hell, most of my *new* stuff is crap, haha. I just happened to do well with this one for some reason. :lmao:

GeorgieGirl · Aug 10, 2011

My only comments would be to clone up under the fold of the nose facing us and settle down the sharpness so that the crepe/eyeshadow of the eye lid facing us and the tiny nose hairs visible into the profile....soften. (Tough having a good sharp lens, right?) I like the colors of the portrait, the lighting, the expression... particulary in the eyes, the crop, and the pretty bokeh frame you created very much. If I were a crazy fanatic I'd say pearl by pearl eliminate the green hue. Nice. :thumbup:

e.rose · Aug 10, 2011

GeorgieGirl said:
My only comments would be to clone up under the fold of the nose facing us and settle down the sharpness so that the crepe/eyeshadow of the eye lid facing us and the tiny nose hairs visible into the profile....soften. (Tough having a good sharp lens, right?) I like the colors of the portrait, the lighting, the expression... particulary in the eyes, the crop, and the pretty bokeh frame you created very much. If I were a crazy fanatic I'd say pearl by pearl eliminate the green hue. Nice. :thumbup:

Thanks for your feedback! :sillysmi:

kundalini · Aug 10, 2011

She was really bombed and I was really blown away
And when I asked what she wanted, this is what she had to say
A pearl necklace, she want a pearl necklace, she want a pearl necklace

Very nice shot indeed, Emily. I have a couple of thoughts though.

I haven't read most of the comments, so I don't know if you framed the image like this in camera or cropped in post. But..... If you have more image to work with, I would consider backing out enough to at least include the entirety of her right eyebrow. This would look better IMO because as it is now, it looks like a mistake and it would give more balance to her face. This would also cause the eyes to be lowered in the frame (I think they're too high). Again, if you have more image to work with, I would take a look at including the whole chin to see if it helps.

I would consider moving the catch light in the right eye so that it's not quite so centered on the pupil. The DoF has caused the catch light in the left eye to look much larger in comparison than the right, so some adjustment on it's size (and position if you move the other one) might be in order. There is also a lone spherical highlight just below the bottom eyelash line of the left eye, next to the nose, I would patch.

There is a bit of pinkish-red on tip of her fingernail at the mouth.

Nicely exposed. Well done.

e.rose · Aug 10, 2011

kundalini said:
She was really bombed and I was really blown away
And when I asked what she wanted, this is what she had to say
A pearl necklace, she want a pearl necklace, she want a pearl necklace

Very nice shot indeed, Emily. I have a couple of thoughts though.

I haven't read most of the comments, so I don't know if you framed the image like this in camera or cropped in post. But..... If you have more image to work with, I would consider backing out enough to at least include the entirety of her right eyebrow. This would look better IMO because as it is now, it looks like a mistake and it would give more balance to her face. This would also cause the eyes to be lowered in the frame (I think they're too high). Again, if you have more image to work with, I would take a look at including the whole chin to see if it helps.

I would consider moving the catch light in the right eye so that it's not quite so centered on the pupil. The DoF has caused the catch light in the left eye to look much larger in comparison than the right, so some adjustment on it's size (and position if you move the other one) might be in order. There is also a lone spherical highlight just below the bottom eyelash line of the left eye, next to the nose, I would patch.

There is a bit of pinkish-red on tip of her fingernail at the mouth.

Nicely exposed. Well done.